


You Are Red, Violent Red

by creeptastically



Series: Mutant Eridan [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb/Sgrub Sessions, Alternate Universe- Bloodswap, Alternian Revolution, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Exploring Troll Society, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Original Character(s), Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Political Takeover, Soul-Searching
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-25
Updated: 2017-11-16
Packaged: 2018-06-10 14:58:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6961753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creeptastically/pseuds/creeptastically
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the heiress spares a mutant lowblood it sets off a change that the empire can't come back from.</p><p>Meanwhile, Eridan is trying to find his place in a world where he should have died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO, remember when I wrote First Date? Same universe, ten times the angst. Exploring such great themes as: Eridan's self loathing, Karkat's potential, Feferi's amazing moirailigence skills, and Nepeta as the empress she deserves to be.

Your name is Eridan Ampora and when you walk to the Ascension you know you are heading towards your doom.

Your bloodpusher pounds in your ears. It seems as if your whole childhood has been leading up to this death march. You have lived far too long already. You're lucky your lusus was crazy enough to pick you up from the caverns, lucky your friends didn’t really believe you, lucky your quadrants don’t care.

When you reach the general location for the gathering, you’re shocked. You have never seen so many trolls before. Sure, you wandered her with your neighbors, but only a couple were of conscription age. In the grand scheme of things, the couple hundred trolls gathered here were nothing compared to the thousands of adults among the stars. Still this is the most trolls you’ve ever dared to expose yourself to. You take a deep breath to steady yourself. It won’t be long now until they slaughter you.  
Out of nowhere, Feferi crashes into you like a ton bricks. She still has branches stuck in her hair, which she has roughly shoved into a ponytail. You are simultaneously calmed by her presence and frightened for her safety.

Out of nowhere, Feferi crashes into you like a ton of bricks. She has branches stuck in her hair, which she has roughly shoved into a ponytail. She obviously isn't taking this very seriously. You are simultaneously calmed by her presence and frightened for her safety.

“Eridan!” She all but shrieks. You shrink into yourself, feeling the eyes of the trolls who heard her drilling into you.

“Fef, shhh!” You grab her shoulders, keeping her firmly planted on the ground. The last thing you want is for Feferi to start climbing you like a tree. You knew you were going to die when your peers found out your secret but you didn’t want to drag Feferi down with you. You stroke her shoulder. You're hoping she calms down enough to stop drawing attention to herself. You don't have any luck though.

“Where’s Karkat?” She asks, ignoring your attempts to pacify her. Her eyes dart around, searching the crowd for her quadrant corner. You notice the color starting to creep into them, tinging her irises green. You wonder, suddenly, if yours are starting to turn red. You curse yourself for not looking into the mirror more often.

“If he’s taken my advice, nowhere near me. I thought I told you to do the same?” You frown at her. You had taken every precaution, wiping your hub and clearing out your hive. You didn’t want your friends and quadrants in danger because of you. Feferi was here anyways, blatantly ignoring your efforts and her own safety.

Feferi sighs, shooting you a sad smile.

“I could never leave you,” she says, reaching to cradle your face. You’re reminded how much you pity the tiny olive troll in front of you, and a warm feeling encases your heart. You don’t know why she is moirails with a mutated freak like you, but you’re glad she is.

“Pale for you,” you murmur. You reach down and scratch around the base of one of her horns.

“Pale for you,” she hums back and for a moment you let her calm your nerves. You hear a passerby gag at your flagrant display of affection, but ignore them. This could be the last time you’re ever going to be with her again after all.

Feferi cuts the moment short by abruptly turning around to scan the crowd.

“So where can I find that pesky matesprit of yours?” She asks again. You sigh, a little taken aback by the sudden change of mood. It's like she can tell when your thoughts roam towards your impending death.

“Probably with Nepeta, why?” You also scan the crowd, noticing that everyone is starting to arrange themselves in vague hemospectrum order.

“Because we’re going to need everyone we can get to keep you safe,” Feferi explains, taking your hand.

“Fef, you can’t, they’ll -" She cuts you off.

“Don’t leave my side.”

“But Fef, I can’t let them–“

“Don’t.”

You want to argue some more, implore her to abandon you to your fate. You can’t stand the thought of them culling her too, but a voice cuts through the crowd silencing everyone.

“Alright listen up guppies!” Nepeta has taken her place on a small platform. She’s small but you’ll be damned if she doesn’t have a commanding presence. Her eyes sweep the crowd and when she’s sure everyone is facing her, she talks again.

“Okay, purr Alternian regulations we need to arrange ourselves in hemospectrum order. I can sea that we’ve already started, so it should be simple.”

“There will be no pushing, no shoving and I need all highbloods to keep their hands to themselves. We want as many trolls to make in the ship as possible. We lose enough chum during training. We do not require your help with thinning the crowd.”

“Me, and my second-in-command will come around and help organize the in-between hues. If I sea anyone breaking the rules, they will be culled immediately.”

“Once aboard the ship, the adults will start a physical exam and if you pass that you get to take a mental one as well. From there they will assign you your jobs. It is your honor to serve our glorious empire.”

“It won’t be long now so just follow the rules and we’ll all get along purrfectly. Any questions?” The crowd is dead silent and Nepeta smiles, revealing a set of sharp, pointed teeth. You shift uncomfortably. You can vividly remember flarping sessions with her jaws at your throat.

“Great, let’s get started!” She hops down from the stage. Immediately they start sorting through some seadwellers nearest the stage. Your bloodpusher kicks into high gear when you see Karkat materialize at her side. You hope it kills you before he’s forced to later.

“He’s with me,” you hear Feferi snap. A large olive colored troll had tried to push his way between the two of you.

“You fucking palemates are too attached,” he spits. You can feel his gaze settle on you. Panic starts to set in and you grip Feferi’s hand tighter, trying to ground yourself.

“Just back off jackass.” Feferi tugs you closer, so her shoulder rubs your arm. You click at her, a warning to calm down.

The male grumbles but settles in line beside her. You chance a peak at the rest of the line and see that Nepeta and Karkat have breezed through the teals. It won’t be long until they're right here in front of you.

“Fef, I can’t let you do this.” Your eyes haven’t left Karkat. Your stomach clenches at the thought of his sickles against her throat. It would be your fault. What better punishment for lying to the empire then to have your matesprit cull your moirail?

“Stop whining Eridan.” They’re at the end of the teals, starting into the greens. There are hardly any jades, there never are.

“I can’t watch him hurt you.” They just started the olives. You can’t keep yourself from hyperventilating. The large male from before is staring at you again. You can’t even be bothered to care.

“Eridan, shoosh.”

“Hey,” the male starts, “what’s up with your eyes?” This is it the moment you’ve been waiting for. It seems Feferi has been waiting to. Faster than you can think, she decaptchalogues her staff and the large male is down on the ground. She perches herself on his chest, and holds a small knife to his throat. For a moment, the surrounding trolls are shocked into stillness. You quickly decaptchalogue your gun and point it into the nearest troll’s chest.

“Don’t move,” you order him. You see the disgust creep into the troll’s face as they lock onto your eyes. You’re scared out of your wits. You’ve never disrespected a higher class before so blatantly, but this is Feferi. You’ll die sooner then you'll let them touch her.

You feel a sharp prong in your side, and you glance towards its owner out of the corner of your eyes.

“Eridan Ampora, well if it isn’t you.” And Nepeta is here.


	2. Chapter 2

You find yourself gazing down into Nepeta’s overly pink eyes. Every single part of you is keenly aware of Karkat behind you. He's probably threatening Feferi, but you can’t bring yourself to even try and out maneuver Nepeta’s trident. If you’re being honest, you don’t want to see what’s going on just out of your range of sight.

“What did I tell you about fighting each other Eridan?” She raises an eyebrow. You had forgotten she had short hair now. Stress has been eating you alive for the past few days, it’s probably a forgivable offense.

“Sorry Nep.”

“Are you going to let him go?” As an answer you dig the barrel of your gun further into the other troll’s chest. You can feel Nepeta stick her trident into your side a bit more. It wouldn’t be long now until she would draw blood and then the cat would really be out of the bag.

“I can’t really do that.” She rolls her eyes.

“You’re always this uncooperative. Remember the FLARP event of the two thousandth solar cycle? You almost got us all killed.” You blink. Why is she talking about this?

“Oh get over it Nep that was sweeps ago.”

“No, because if you had just listened,” the trident pricks your skin, “then everything would have been fine. But no, the great Eridan Ampora, always with somefin to prove tried to play hero.” You feel some blood trickle down your side.

“You’re the one who lied to me!” You can feel your face get hot, and you’re sure your cheeks are bright red. This whole exchange is surreal.

“It doesn’t matter; you should have just listened! And now, like that stupid FLARP incident, you’ve caused more trouble for me.” Her eyes narrow at you. You are struck by how perfect of a predator she is, fins splayed wide and flushed pink. Nepeta was smaller than you but she was stronger. You can feel your instinctual urge to just bow to the highblood before you fight with your urgent need to protect your moirail.

“I can’t let them, or you, hurt her.” You’re no match for her, but you’d die before you let her lay a single claw on Feferi.

“Oh stop being so dramatic, Feferi is purrfectly fine. Drop the gun.”

“No.” Nepeta growls at you.

“Have it your way then.” She steps back and you feel yourself breathe a premature sigh of relief. “Sollux!”

It's been ages since you’ve seen Sollux Captor and he has grown at least a foot. The blue-blooded troll now towers over almost everyone. He was even a couple inches taller than you. As if he needed to be physically imposing on top of everything else.

He wastes no time approaching your group, looking irritated to be called into service.

Against your will, you start to lower the gun. Of course Sollux grants you the decency of allowing your outraged cry break through. You swear to god that if you live through this, you’re going to strangle him.

“Fuck both of you,” you spat.

“Oh shut up Eridan,” Nepeta says calmly. Slowly, your muscles fighting Sollux’s efforts every step of the way, you captchalogue the gun back into your sylladex. There’s a beat of silence, and no one moves.

“Can you let me go now Karkat?” And that’s Feferi’s voice. Just as you feared it’s your matesprit keeping your moirail captive.

“Uh yeah sure.” Karkat sounds sheepish. You can’t turn to look at him but you swear that he's blushing, flushed a vibrant shade of violet. What the hell is going on?

Feferi reaches you just as Sollux lets you go. Your knees buckle at the sudden loss of force. Her hands are in your hair in a second and she paps you softly, murmuring soft words of reassurance.

“What is –“ you start to ask, but Feferi beats you to it.

“I told you I was looking for Karkat.” You turn your head to gaze at the troll in question. Your bloodpusher warms at the sight of him, your matesprit. He is blushing, fins flattened against his head. His arms are crossed, and he’s frowning at you.

“But I thought you would-“ you try and explain to him. He cuts you off and at this rate you’re never going to finish a sentence.

“How many times do I have to tell you asshole, your blood color doesn’t matter to me.” It’s a dangerous thing for him to admit out here in the open but if it was possible you pity him even more.

However, his confession spurs the troll you had threatened into action.

“Your Highness, he’s a mutant.” They look twitchy. You glance around and see that most of the trolls in the immediate vicinity do. They don’t dare move to take action without permission from Nepeta first, though.

“Your point?” Nepeta asks them. Her trident is still out and displayed. It glints dangerously in the moonlight. They hesitate.

“He’s wrong,” their eyes flicker to the body that is still on the ground, “and they killed Thrern.”

Feferi clutches you tightly and your hands itch for your gun, but it’s Karkat who reacts first. He moves closer to you, swiftly drawing his sickles.

“Oh, were you quadranted with him?” Nepeta cocks her head to the side, a look of mock compassion crossing her features.

“No but,” they hesitate again, “Your Highness he doesn’t have the right.”

“I think, I’m the one who gets to decide who has the right to do things around here. So, unless you’re going to lodge an official complaint to avenge a quadrant mate I suggest you get back in line. That’s an order.” They scamper back quickly. Nepeta draws herself up to full height, which isn’t very large but commanding nonetheless, and addresses the rest of the trolls.

“Does anybody else have a problem here?” No one moves, and few dare to breathe. “Purrfect. Sollux you’re free to go back in line too.”

“Whatever.” He rolls his eyes at her and spins around to go join the rest frightened trolls in line. You feel your finger twitch pointedly and you could swear that he looks back to wink at you. Fuck him.

“Eridan, you’re with me.” This must be it then, Nepeta was going to have the honor of culling you herself.

“Nepeta, you can’t just do that,” Feferi says. You can barely hear her. Yes, you really need to get away from her and Karkat. Nepeta can cull him somewhere else, anywhere else, just as long as she didn’t hurt them.

“Fef, I’ll be fine.” You know in your heart you’re lying through your teeth.

“I can and I will, Piexes.” Nepeta smirks and Feferi scowls. You gently pull Feferi’s hands off of you and make the effort to stand. Karkat hovers anxiously near your side. Yaou pap Feferi one more time before following your matesprit and the empress to be down the line. You don’t know when or if you’ll ever see her again, but she is safe and that’s all that matters to you.

The rest of the group seems to take no time and before you know it, you’re being led back to the platform at the beginning of the line. Not long after that the retrieval ship breaks into the atmosphere.

It is easily one of the biggest things you’ve ever seen, massive doesn’t even begin to cover it. It shouldn’t surprise you, though. The retrieval ship has got to not only test and contain you, but manage to support hundreds of young trolls while you make your way to the Training Center.

You had hoped that you would meet your end on familiar ground, live and die on Alternian soil. You suppose that maybe the ship won’t be bad either. Honestly, you’re trying not to dwell on it too much, even if you aren’t succeeding.

It takes a good half hour for it to reach the surface. It’s loud and creaky when it lands, engines slowly powering down and settling to the ground with a large thud. Nepeta winks at you before turning to address the crowd.

“Alright, when the bay doors open, a group of adults will lead you towards your physicals. It’s been a pleasure hanging out with all of you here on the home planet but greater things await us.” As if on cue, the doors to the ship fall open. Nepeta nudges you inside.

“After you Ampora. Karkat and I are right behind.”

You take a deep breath and march yourself into the ship’s hull.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Number 2 is done! Try not to get used to this, I literally only update as I finish and usually finishing takes a lot longer.  
> I'm trying not to ramble in these or just give you an entire dump of information but don't worry I'll make sure everyone gets at least one appearance soon! And you can also be sure this isn't the last we've seen of Feferi and Sollux.


	3. Chapter 3

The hull isn’t dark, it's bright and huge. There are a couple of halls leading past the entrance and some adult trolls are milling around. You've never seen an adult troll in person, and these ones are mostly teals. They're huge, and their eyes are vibrant with their respective blood colors. Their presence is enough to startle you into stopping. You don't want to anger them by doing something wrong. 

Nepeta, on the other hand, isn't deterred by them at all. She strides past you, taking lead of the pack. 

“This way,” she calls. You look back at Karkat, who pushes you forward.

“I’ve got a physical, just follow her. Nepeta will take care of everything, I promise.” You watch him go down a different hall than the one Nepeta is taking. You hesitate for a second. You know Karkat seems confident, but you’re sure this is going to be the moment Nepeta ends you. You are more than grateful that neither of your quadrants are going to be there. You wonder if you should go and kiss him one last time, though. You don’t really get a choice in the matter because Nepeta calls after you.

“Don’t make me wait all night!” She shouts. Startled, you drag your eyes away from Karkat’s retreating figure. You dutifully follow your heiress down the hall.

It isn’t long and very soon you're entering what can only be considered a throne room. You wonder how Nepeta knows where everything is. She must have gotten different schoolfeeding material then you. She settles into an extremely modest throne and gestures for you to take one of the other seats around the room.

“Theoretically this is where I get to meet my advisory board,” she explains.

“Are they going to be the ones who kill me?” You sit down as close to her as possible, choosing the chair to here right. It may seem selfish, but you had hoped Nepeta would be the one to do it. She wouldn’t make you suffer.

She snorts and ignores your question. You're confused and a little put out by it.

“I won’t be seeing them until after the physicals are complete. They’ll report the losses – anyone that they had to cull for bad health. Then they’ll start to fill me in on how the training center is doing. Even though Her Imperious Condescension is still empresses, they train me to eventually meet her in battle. I also get complete rule over the Training Center, sort of as a form of practice on the off chance I actually beat her.” She looks away from you to stare out the window. She looks to be deep in thought, and you wonder what could be bothering her already.

“That’s cool.” You say at last. She shrugs. You take a moment to look around the room a bit more. It's a bland place, but it's large. There's no dust inside but you don't think it's been used in awhile. Around the table you're sitting at there are six seats including the one you're in. You suppose that means there are six advisers. 

“Is Karkat one of the advisers?” You ask Nepeta. Karkat has always been stationed at her side. It's hard to imagine him doing anything else.

“That’s what he’ll be training for. Some of the highbloods don’t take the intelligence test. They've inherited a position by blood right. After his physical Karkat will join all the advisers here. The other seadwellers train for various high-ranking military jobs. All the purples are subjuggalators.” 

“Aradia is gonna hate doing that,” you comment. Nepeta shrugs again and goes back to looking out the window. The ship starts to rumble as it prepares for taking off. This is the last either of you will see Alternia.

The ship lurches and shakes as it pushes itself from the ground. It starts battling gravity on its way to space, crashing through the air loudly. The ground is getting farther and farther away. You feel peaceful sitting here with Nepeta. Like all your anxiety was left behind when the ship left the ground. You’re suddenly grateful you get to die here rather than down there.

Just as the ship starts breaking through the atmosphere, and the ground is no longer visible through clouds, a group of five adult trolls walk into the room. Karkat follows them, face forward and serious. Nepeta turns to face them. You abandon your seat to stand awkwardly to the side. Karkat sits in the chair you've left vacant. He doesn’t face you, and you’re glad for it.

“Good dawn your highness,” a seadweller greets. She bows swiftly before sitting in the chair on Nepeta's left, and the others follow suit. You stand still between Nepeta and Karkat, unsure where you should be. None of the advisers have looked too closely at you yet, and you wonder what will happen when they do.

All of the advisers are highbloods. Of course there is Karkat, and then the troll who spoke, who’s just a couple of shades lighter then Karkat himself. Then there is an indigo, a cerulean, a seadweller so close to purple that their fins seem almost malformed. The group is rounded out by a rare male jade blood.

“Voupic,” Nepeta nods in acknowledgement. You once again wonder what kind of schoolfeeding Nepeta got that prepared her so completely for this. You wish that they were wearing name tags so you can match names to faces. The witnesses to your ultimate demise. 

You notice out of the corner of your eye that the indigo has spotted you. You shrink into yourself, wrapping your cape around you out of habit. They stand, gripping the back of their chair, and their claws puncture it with ease. Their eyes don’t leave you even when Voupic starts talking again. 

“I have the results of the physicals. Only five losses, and one deserter.” She approaches the throne and hands Nepeta a stack of papers. Her eyes flicker to you before settling on Nepeta again. Nepeta takes it and starts to flip through nonchalantly. The indigo is still staring at you.

“There's not a deserter. I killed him,” Nepeta admits. There is no tone to her voice, and she doesn’t mention why she killed him either. She holds out one of the papers for Voupic to take back.

“I’ll update our records then your highness,” Voupic returns it to her stack.

“Good, anything else?” Nepeta asks, her eyes sweeping over the advisers.

“It will be roughly two weeks before we dock at the Training Center, Your Highness,” the second seadweller speaks up, “I have the information on the trolls that are already there ready for you to look through whenever you are ready to start.”

“Very good, Ecolst, I’ll start when we’re done here.” The troll’s far too tiny fins flutter at her praise. 

You see Karkat stiffen, fins flaring. The indigo has inched closer. Their eyes still haven’t moved, and you start to shake. 

“Excuse me Your Highness,” they croak.

“Yes Thasas?” Nepeta looks at them. They don’t look back, still stuck on you. You know you can't take on a full grown indigo blooded troll, and you're not going to make a fool of yourself trying.

“What is that?” They point at you and then everyone is staring at you. Your bloodpusher remains steady, your time has finally come.

“That is a mutant.” Nepeta’s eyes have narrowed, her fins flaring to match Karkat's. She’s trying to swing her dominance, but they don’t even notice, still transfixed on you.

“And what is it doing here?” Their tone is acidic and you wonder if they can kill you through looks alone. Maybe it would be painless.

“Staying,” Nepeta states firmly. Your heart skips a beat - what does she mean staying? - and then several things happen in rapid succession.

Thasas lunges across the table. They’re fast, and you make no move to dodge them.None of the other advisers make any move to stop them either. You both hit the floor hard when they crash into you. They dig their claws into your throat. You barely notice that your blood has started flowing, leaving bright trails of red in its wake. Your chest burn as you gasp for air but you don’t fight back. This is what you’ve been waiting for. Finally, someone had taken it upon themselves to cull you. You only wish that Karkat wasn’t here.

“Kar,” you croak. You’re going to try and convince him to look away, to not watch you die. Your matesprit, however, has other ideas.

With a swift kick, Karkat dislodges Thasas from you. Almost too fast for you to see, he’s got his sickles out and he’s slicing his opponent to ribbons. Thasas growls loudly, swiping at Karkat just as quickly. You don’t miss the spatter of violet blood that hits the floor.

“Kar wait!” You slap your hands over your wounds, instinctively stemming the flow. What is he doing over there?

Karkat ignores your call, and the next thing you know he’s got his sickles pressed to Thasas’s throat. They’re bleeding, rivers of indigo blood streaming down their arms. They growl, teeth bared at Karkat and struggle to stand. 

“Nepeta?” Karkat shouts, and it sounds like a question. You don't know what he's doing. 

“Go ahead.” She waves her hand. In one quick motion, Karkat slits their throat. You’re shell shocked. Your hands are covered in red blood but over all you feel fine. Karkat looks alright too, only a set of claw marks on his face, the gashes only oozing violet. He turns to you, eyes blazing with fury.

“Oh my fucking god Eridan!” He shouts. You wince. You see most of the other advisers look away, except for Voupic. She watches you with disdain written all over her face. 

“Kar…” you’re rooted to the spot as Karkat makes his way to you. He could have been hurt, what was he thinking?

“No, just shut up.” In a few strides he’s kneeling down next to you. He has a cloth in his hands, and he moves yours out of the way so he can gently dab at your wounds. 

“Kar, what are you doin?” His face is shining with tears. You reach up to wipe them away but he knocks it down. 

“No, shut up! What were you thinking? Weren’t you even going to defend yourself?” Anger clouds his features, tears falling harder. You look at him in disbelief. 

“What was I thinkin? What were you thinkin?” You poke his chest meaningfully. “You could have been hurt Kar. I would have never forgiven myself.”

“Did you expect me to just sit here while they tore you apart? Really, you would think I could fucking do that?” He stops trying to patch you up. The cloth is stained red and his claws rip through it like paper. 

“Kar, I’m a mistake. They had every right to.” You tell him. You hear one of the adults mumble something and Karkat shrieks. 

You force yourself not to shrink away. Matesprit or not, highblood rage is very real. You want to reach out and touch him. You wish Gamzee was here to calm him down. 

“Bullshit,” he shouts, “there’s nothing wrong with you. How many times do I have to tell you that? And what about me huh?” He’s suddenly standing. He looks like a wreck, covered in red and purple, and face blotchy with tears.

“What about me? What about Feferi? Did you stop to think for three seconds what would happen to us when you died? You selfish fucking asshole. You’re lucky I don’t cull you myself.” You’re dumbstruck. You're not supposed to matter that much to anybody.

“Kar, I didn’t think that you would…” You reach for him, and he lets you pull him close. He’s sobbing against your chest, still swearing at you.

“Of course you didn’t, you’re a fucking moron. I’ve expelled shit with more awareness then you. You never even think that anyone feels just as strongly as you. You’re such a dick wad, I fucking hate you.” You look over at Nepeta in alarm. Things are getting a little too pale and you’re scared he’s going to flip black for you any minute now. She rolls her eyes at you.

“Does anyone here have any objections to my mutant?” She asks the room. The four remaining advisers shake their heads. 

“Excellent. Ecolst, go fetch Gamzee Makara and Feferi Piexes. Have them meet these whimpering idiotss in room ten-ten. Also make a note of what Piexes face looks like when you tell her I insulted hr moirail, I’m anxious to hear about it.” She turns to Voupic as Ecolst flees the room.

“Voupic please get the sanitation staff here. I don’t even want to know Thasas’s body was ever there in ten minutes.” Voupic nods and leaves as Nepeta turns to the next adviser, the cerulean. 

“Yoisme, show these two to room ten-ten. If there is even another paper cut on this mutant’s body before he gets there I will cull you personally. Do I make myself clear?” Yoisme nods, and then hurries over to you.

“Can you walk?” They ask, voice flat. You nod and gently guide a still sobbing Karkat after them. You feel like you're having an out of body experience.

What is happening?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter 4 is chugging along, but I'll be mostly planting tomorrow and going to work and then colossal stuff on sunday  
> I'm aiming to be done with it by monday night?
> 
> Ah well, actual pale times ahead, prepare for the sap and a not happy fef.


	4. Chapter 4

You start to put various things into a pile from the scarce respiteblock. There are only two restcycle slabs with blankets and headrest squares. You grab them and the squishy slabs themselves and drag it all into the middle of the room. It's a lame pile, but it will have to do. It may have been overstepping your boundaries a little bit but it needed to be done. Lowbloods are instinctual pacifiers, and you care for Karkat too much to ignore him. 

"Kar let's get you wrapped up, come on." You take him by the hand guide him to the pile. He only frowns until you start to wrap him in a blanket. 

"You're not my moirail, I don't need you to coddle me," he snaps. 

"Oh shut up you big wriggler, you're just upset," you scold. You pointedly do not pap his face, as natural as it would be. You sit down next to him and he tugs you close. 

"You really scare me sometimes," Karkat admits. You carefully kiss his uninjured cheek.

"I don't try to," you tell him. Karkat scowls and then sniffs. You wipe at his tears. He's always been a huge crier. It's a wonder the entire ship doesn't pity him.

There's a gentle knock on the door, and Ecolst opens it. Feferi and Gamzee are with her and they waste no time pushing themselves past her. She looks away cheeks tinged purple and doesn't say anything before closing the door. 

You gently pry yourself from Karkat’s grasp and let his moirail take your place in the pile. You’re more than happy that Gamzee is here to relieve you. 

It’s been ages since you’ve seen him, and he has also gotten taller. He’s not as tall as you or Sollux but he’s pretty up there for a teal blood. 

You wonder what his intelligence test told him to be, before Feferi get to you. She looks almost as shaken as Karkat and you pull her into your arms.

“What happened to your neck?” She asks. She brushes her hands against the wounds. You worry that they’ll start bleeding again, but you don’t flinch.

“I was rightfully being culled,” you explain. Feferi punches you, and Karkat makes a strangled noise. You hear Gamzee shoosh him.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” Feferi says. She fiddles with her sylladex for a second before pulling out some cloth bandages.

“So I’ve been told.” You say dryly. She pulls back a little and you shrug. 

"I can't believe you," she says. She starts winding the bandage around your neck, but you keep your arms encircled around her. You thought you’d never see her again.

Feferi doesn’t move when she’s finished, content with being held. You pepper the top of her head with kisses, and she strokes your arms. Your bloodpusher beats steadily and you start to purr.

“I could have lost you,” she tells you, voice quiet. While Karkat was a noisy crier, Feferi is almost silent. This time you feel no guilt when wiping her tears away. 

“Well I’m here right now,” you say. Feferi huffs.

“Yeah thanks to Nepeta.” She grimaces and hugs you tighter. You chuckle.

“Mhmm, when are you goin to tell me about that?” Like you hadn’t noticed the animosity between your moirail and the empress to be.

“There’s nothing to tell,” she says quickly. You snort but let it go. She’ll tell you when she’s ready. It isn’t hurting anything right now anyways.

Karkat is quiet. You sneak a glance and see him and Gamzee cuddled close. One of Gamzee’s hands is holding Karkat’s face, and Karkat grips his moirail like a lifeline. A fierce shot of pity runs through you. You look down at Feferi, and she understands almost immediately. She takes your hand and squeezes it gently.

You move closer to them, Feferi next to you, and with your free hand you reach for Karkat’s face. Gamzee is watching you closely, but moves his hand out of them way. You stroke Karkat's face, and his breath hitches. His fierce violet eyes lock onto yours.

“I’m sorry,” you breathe out. There’s a painful minute where all he does is stare at you, and your bloodpusher feels like it’s going to explode. Then, Karkat launches himself at you.

His teeth are still sharp, and he’s a messy kisser, scraping your lip open. The pain just makes you think of him at this point. It reminds you that it’s still Karkat, violet and royal blooded, a perfect predator. He’s right here and he’s yours. You whimper and free your other hand from Feferi’s so you can grip his hair. Karkat lightly scratches at your back. How much blood are you going to lose today?

Eventually, you break away, gasping for air. Karkat keeps you close though, gripping your arms tightly.

“Please don’t leave me like that,” he begs. You blink, a little surprised.

“Kar, I can’t-“

“Please.” Feferi adds and moves closer. She starts to draw absent circles on your arm. Karkat kisses you again, chastely on the lips. You’re working on emotional overload. Between your matesprit and your moirail you have never felt so loved and wanted.

“Guys you don’t get it, I’m not worth it. I’m not right and…” Your breath catches. You're supposed to die.

“Shhh,” Feferi coos at you. She runs a hand through your hair, scratching at the base of your horns.

“There’s nothing fucking wrong with you,” Karkat insists, “the hemospectrum is a load of shit. You’re so much more than what anyone else thinks of you.”

“But-“

“I’d just listen to them, brother.” Your eyes lock onto to Gamzee’s. He’s smiling fondly at your mess of red quadrant pity. 

You suddenly feel embarrassed. Sure you were quadrant corners, but this was your emotional mess and he wasn’t you’re boyfriend.

“Gamz, I’m a risk for them,” you try to explain. You attempt to straighten yourself p, but it's a little hard with Karkat and Feferi all over you. Gamzee doesn't seem to mind.

“They aren’t going to let you go. They’re fucking in it now. Karkat’s the loudest of motherfuckers. He’s got your back until the end.” Karkat scowls at his moirail but nods.

“No one will ever lay another fucking finger on you,” he vows. You look to Feferi, who smiles sweetly.

“I’m not going to let anyone take you from me,” she confirms. Gamzee laughs sharply, sounding like horn.

You don’t think you’re worth all this trouble, but you can’t deny how it makes you feel. For the first time in sweeps, you feel at home.

It’s Yoisme who peeks their head in later. Their corkscrew horns cast an interesting shadow in the dark room. You’re curled up, head laying on Feferi’s chest, and holding Karkat’s hand loosely. They’re both sound asleep. Gamzee is as well, spooning Karkat, arms wrapped around him protectively. But, you are wide awake and you’re caught staring at the older troll. They look flustered at having caught you all together. You're still obviously mid feelings jam. You tense, still not trusting any other trolls you meet.

“Excuse me,” they whisper. They look at anything but you. They're flustered by the fact that you’re the only one awake enough for them to talk to but scared enough of Karkat to not make a big deal about it.

“Yes?” You hiss back. Feferi stirs, and you resist the urge to nuzzle her. You’re still feeling pretty raw, and almost every single pale thought you have is pouring into an action. You can almost physically feel how awkward this is.

Yoisme closes their eyes, looking like they're trying to calm themself. You're wary of the action. You don't have a lot of experience with ceruleans outside of Sollux. You wonder if they have as terrifying mind control powers as he does.

“Your Highness wants me to tell you that when you are all proper that she wishes to see you in the main room again.” There’s a long pause. You are content to just watch as they squirm under your gaze. They look angry and like they're trying to hold it back. Gamzee snores loudly, breaking the spell. 

“Fine,” you say. You bury your head further into Feferi's shoulder, effectively ending the conversation. You hear the door shut when Yoisme leaves. It isn’t long after that you feel yourself drift off. You're lulled to sleep by Feferi's steady breathing and the cool feel of Karkat’s hand in yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fucking take it, I'm probably not going to be writing again until post colossal con! :)


	5. Chapter 5

The four of you end up in Nepeta’s advising/throne block the next evening. At least you assume its evening. Time is very odd without the blistering Alternia sun to mark each day and night.

She’s waiting for you inside and so are the remaining four advisers: Voupic, Ecolst, Yoisme and the unnamed jade. Karkat joins them, stopping only to pap Gamzee softly and give you a peck on the cheek. You blush crimson. You’re sure he’s only marking you because he feels threatened, but it touches you, nonetheless. He nods to Nepeta who nods back, and takes his seat glaring daggers at Voupic who stares coolly back.

“Everybody all patched up and rested then?” Nepeta asks, tone neutral.

“Everyone is as fine as can be my catfish sister,” Gamzee answers her, smiling lopsidedly. Ecolst gapes at his audacity to call Nepeta by anything other than her station. You roll your eyes. Some things will never change. Nepeta doesn't seem to be bothered.

“Excellent, then you and Miss Piexes are dismissed. I hear you have a lot of training to do.” Gamzee nods and goes to leave but Feferi hesitates.

“Nepeta,” she starts to say. Nepeta grins, putting her wickedly pointed teeth on display.

“Yes?”

“I would like to stay and see what happens with Eridan, if you don’t mind.” You squeeze her hand gently. It’s a nice thought, but you’re positive she doesn’t have to worry. At least not with Karkat literally slicing the throats of trolls who threaten you.

“Actually, I believe I dismissed you.” Nepeta hasn’t stopped smiling.

“Nepeta we both know I don’t need any combat training,” Feferi argues.

“On the contrary, I think you need lots of training to keep up with the highbloods in your class.” You want to groan. You’re certain Nepeta is just flirting with her, but Feferi always rises to the bait.

“That’s uncalled for stop being such a classist bitch.” Feferi takes a step closer, and you hear Ecolst gasp again. You wonder if it would do her any good to explain that this happens all the time.

“Language Miss Piexes,” Nepeta chastises as she rises from her chair.

“Make me!” Feferi takes another step forward, teeth bared in a snarl. Nepeta approaches with ease, not feeling the least bit threatened. You’re certain that Ecolst is going to die from stress. Her fins are fluttering a mile a minute.

You look at Karkat, and you see his lips twitch a bit. He can’t resist good gossip. What could be better than seeing the empress to be shamelessly black flirt with someone much lower than her? Nothing that’s what. You're embarrassed for the whole lot of them.

“Now now Feferi,” Nepeta places her hand on her shoulders and Feferi starts to growl a bit. “There’s nothing to worry about, your moirail couldn’t be in safer hands.”

“That’s not the point,” Feferi snaps.

“Still, I have dismissed you for now. Don’t worry I’ll make sure you’re caught up in a timely manner.” Nepeta rubs her shoulders a bit, but Feferi roughly shoves her off. You tug Feferi back to your side. The last thing you need is another adviser to go berserk on a lowblood in this room.

“Yeah right,” sarcasm drips from her every word. Nepeta pouts.

“When have I ever lied to you?” She asks.

“Literally all the time.” Feferi shoots back.

“Well not this time,” Nepeta grins again, “how about dinner? I can catch you up over everything then!” Feferi looks a little taken aback, but Nepeta claps her hands. This time you do groan.

“Uhh,” Feferi says. You shoot her a look. She has to say yes, if for nothing else then to spare you the aggressive flirting.

“It’s settled, I’ll send Ecolst for you after we’ve made the rounds and I’ve looked through my paper work.” Nepeta points at Ecolst who immediately jots some stuff in her notebook. She then turns and settles back into her throne. Feferi remains rigid.

“What?”

“Go, we’ll fetch you later.” Nepeta waves her out. You elbow her in the side. Feferi turns on her heel and roughly paps your face before storming out. Her face is tinged green from her blush and her eyes are sparking with fury.You pity whoever ends up being her partner in her combat class.

Your eyes snap up to Nepeta. That was a blatant display of power, and it puts you on edge. You don't know why you're here, and you have no idea what you’re supposed to be doing. Nepeta, however, isn’t acknowledging you yet.

“Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about what we should do with Thasas’s vacancy among the advisers.” She says. You expect Voupic to answer her but it’s the jade that stands up.

“Now that Thasas has met his demise, it traditionally goes to another blue blood. Whether they are cerulean or indigo is up to you. We have a couple of adults who meet the qualifications lined up, but you are not required to pick any of them.” He passes down a stack of papers. Nepeta gives them a glance before setting them in front of her.

“Thank you Niichi, but I already have someone in mind.”

“As you wish Your Highness.” He sits down, sharing an unreadable look with Voupic. It makes you uneasy. Karkat frowns as well.

“Your Highness,” Voupic stands, pulling out some more papers, “it’s about time we talked about assigning you a personal guard.”

“No need to hand me those papers,” Nepeta says.

“But Your Highness, these are some of the most well trained individuals. Surely there can’t be anyone better.” Voupic seems to be arguing more as a formality then real surprise. You notice that unlike Ecolst — who’s fins flutter with her every emotion — and Karkat — who’s fins have been flared as wide as they’d go since he walked in — her fins are flat against her head. You figure she must have trained them, and it makes you even more uncomfortable in her presence. You aren’t used to not being able to read a seadweller’s fins.

“I’d rather have someone I trust. I am also going to assign a guard for the mutant here.” Your head snaps to meet Nepeta’s gaze. She’s smiling coyly at you.

“Nep, you don’t have to bother with that.” You want to tell her you’d rather crawl into a hole and never come out than have someone follow your every move.

“Yes, I do. Need I remind you that you stood there and did nothing as a threat to your life barreled across the room and began to choke you. You have no self-preservation instincts Eridan. You need a guard.” Her tone was no nonsense, and you swallow any further arguments. You don’t think you’d be as lucky as Feferi and get invited to dinner for the effort. You do scowl at Karkat, who looks relieved. You do too have a self-preservation instinct. You thought it had been your time. It was supposed to be your time.

“Very well, Your Highness. When shall we pick them up?” Voupic takes a note and waits for her reply.

“While we do the rounds. I imagine they’ll be time consuming for the first go through.” Nepeta stands, stretching a bit. Voupic picks up her papers and Ecolst, Niichi, and Yoisme do the same.

“An excellent assumption Your Highness,” Ecolst chirps, “shall we begin?”

With a nod of her head, Nepeta leads the party out of the room. You go too, not really wanting to be left here alone. Karkat falls back a bit, waiting for you to catch up.

“Hi,” you greet him. 

“Hi,” he says back. He slips his hand into yours, and you relish how cold it feels against yours. Most of the highblood blocks are kept warmer and you've been dying all morning.

You quietly follow Nepeta for a little while. She and the advisers chatter on about statistics and expected progress. Sometimes Karkat chimes in as well, usually taking a different stance then the adults. You take this time to observe your surroundings.

The halls in the ship are long and gray. You wish there were windows, so you could see how vast space really is this far out. Since you haven’t really seen a schematic of the ship, you assume you’re nowhere near the outer layers. You pass by a lot of other blocks, though. Inside are various colors of trolls learning several things. You pass by a room of rust bloods being schoolfed mechanics and a sea of ceruleans and indigos sparring.

Nepeta stalls outside that room. The advisers settle around her, and there is silence as she stares through the glass. Her face is screwed in concentration, like she’s counting the trolls inside. Suddenly, she turns to you. You try and rip your hand from Karkat’s grasp. You're frightened that you’ve been caught being so obviously affectionate. Karkat tightens his hold though and there is no way you are ever going to match him for strength.

“I’m going to leave you out here with Karkat alright?” She states it like a question but somehow you don’t think there’s room for disagreement.

“Sure thing Nep,” you nod, feeling weird about being addressed directly. She nods back tersely and disappears inside the sparring hall, the other advisers in tow. You let out a breathe you didn’t know you were holding.

“Don’t relax, this is worse than if she was out here with us,” Karkat tells you. He looks tense, fins flared wide, and teeth flashing in a snarl.

“How do you figure that?” You ask him. His eyes lock onto yours, they look more and more violet every day. 

“Because people won’t mess with her, but I’m a bit of an easier target,” he explains. You stroke his knuckles with your thumb.

“I’m not useless you know,” you say, pretending to be offended. Karkat rolls his eyes.

“No, you just don’t have any instinct in you to disobey a higher caste.” You don’t really have an argument for that.

“I’m just scared okay. I was always supposed to be culled.” You drop his gaze. Karkat lets loose a low growl, and you resist the ingrained instinct to pacify a threat.

“You were never supposed to be dead,” he insists through gritted teeth. This time you roll your eyes. This is not an argument you want to have right now.

“I just don’t know what I’m doing right now. I never planned this far ahead.”

“Eridan.” Karkat forces you to meet his gaze again. You can tell he’s still a little scared of losing you, like if he takes his eyes off of you you’ll disappear.

He makes you feel warm inside and you pity him greatly. You don’t fight the urge to kiss him. He kisses you back, as gently as possible, mindful of his teeth for once. It’s very sweet and for a couple of minutes you feel like you’re on Alternia. Like you're back in your hive, and there’s nothing more important than your quadrants. You almost whine when he pulls away.

“Who is Nep getting?” You ask after you’ve caught your breath. Karkat looks thoughtful for a moment, and you’re pleased to note he’s no longer thrumming with nerves.

“Someone you’re going to fucking hate,” he tells you. You smile at him, thinking he’s teasing.

“As long as it’s not Captor I think I’ll live.”

“Well…” Karkat’s voice trails off.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear Ampora,” a snide voice cuts in. You hiss, whipping around to come face to face with fucking Sollux Captor. Your eyes narrow. You resist the urge to decaptchalogue your rifle to blow the fucking smirk off his face. He grins and you momentarily think he can read minds as well as control them. 

“I don’t have to read your mind Ampora. It’s written all over your stupid face,” he says smugly. His arms are crossed and you hate how powerful he looks. He looks like a troll that's perfectly fit for his caste. It makes you sick. 

“Bite my ass, douchebag,” you spat.

“Is that an invitation moron?” Sollux shoots back. You hear Nepeta click her tongue, sounding impatient. You don’t want to hear it from her though. She was going on a weird hatedate with your moirail later tonight. So it's only fair you get to stand here and maybe dabble in some pitch flirting for a minute. You haven’t really decided whether you wanted to kick him in the bulge or viciously kiss him yet. The thought causes you to panic for second and you round on Nepeta.

“He’s not my fucking guard is he?” You slap your hands over your mouth, Ecolst squeaks in shock and Karkat barks out a laugh. You feel a little sick and hope Nepeta doesn’t strike back. These are the kinds of things you never thought about on Alternia. You’re having trouble reconciling the Nepeta who is your empress and the Nepeta who is your friend. She raises an eyebrow.

“No, he’s mine. Your guard is a few blocks down.” She turns and leads the way. The whole group follows her. Sollux falls into step at her side. It's like he'd known all along that this was going to be his job.

You’re still anxiously waiting for Nepeta's reaction. It comes after she has disappeared into the block alone. She returns in no time, another familiar face with her.

“Eridan, this is your guard,” she says roughly. You want to crawl back through space hide on the Alternian surface. In the sun if you could manage it.

“Heyyyyyyyy,” Vriska coos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got really long and kinda ramble-y. But ahhh Vriska!!!!!  
> I hope to give you ch 6 sooner then I got this one out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

You spend the next week in a spiral of aggressive black flirting. Vriska is a sparking powerful telekinetic, and Sollux has mind control powers beyond normal. They’re both powerful, and they're both driving you up a wall. Between the two of them, you're vicilatating so fast it almost hurts. You figure at this point it doesn’t matter who you choose because you're definitely going to have to get an ashen to stop the other. 

Vriska, as your personal guard, has been by your side every night. So far you’ve seen her take down three unruly highbloods with just her mind, and at least four more with her claws. Each time she kills with unadulterated glee. You could swear this was her life's passion.

Sollux, on the other hand, has almost nothing to do. There weren’t quite as many people willing to attack Nepeta so outwardly. You would know as you spend all of your time with her, which means you also spend all of your time with Sollux too. And the lack of attacks means he has more than enough time to torment you.

It's almost worse because all of this takes place in direct sight of the advisory board. The highblood adults already regard you with disgust and hatred. So, this embarrassing public display only makes it worse.

Your mess of a romantic life aside, you still don’t know what you’re doing on the ship, or with your life in general. You've taken up space in Tasas's vacant seat and spend your days shadowing Nepeta. Occasionally, she asks for your opinion on something. Things like how you feel about the intelligence test, and if you think the caste restrictive roles are fair. Each morning you and Vriska show up in the throne room, and she never dismisses you to go do something else. 

You’ve followed her during the daily rounds, and watched her review mounds of paperwork. You've listened in as they've discussed the fleet’s current military positions. From what you can gather, Nepeta gets very little say in the military as of right now. Most of her effort is spent talking about the planet that holds all of the training trolls.

You know that young trolls will spend at least their first two sweeps in space on that planet. Not only is that the training center, but it’s where most of your race’s DNA is from. It’s harder to get the slurry from older trolls. They’re spread across too many planets. Many of them are so far away from their quadrants that it is impossible for them to donate at all. The training center was ideal because it was the youngest and healthiest trolls all in one place. It also was the place with the biggest variety of blood colors. 

It won’t be long until you reach it now, and you’d wish you had some idea as to what was going before you got there. The week on this ship had been tiring and confusing and honestly you hadn’t expected to ever make it this far. Since you are alive and your bloodpusher is still going, you want things to even out before general stress kills you. And that means you might actually have to speak to Nepeta.

At two days out from the training center, the advisors have started to kick into overdrive. There was a lot of organizing to do, and Nepeta has a lot of decisions to make. The evening comes too soon — time still wonky for you without the sun — and before you know it Karkat is shaking you awake.

“Eridan, if Vriska breaks down the door again, I will throttle you,” he hisses. You blink up at him, feeling pretty groggy. You’re still not used to waking up with him in the room. More days then not your moirails were there as well but yesterday it had been hard to stop kissing him. You blame it on the high of relief that’s almost always in your system. You also blame how frayed your nerves have been since stepping on board.

“Ugh,” you mumble incoherently. As if on cue, a banging on your door starts.

“You’ve got five minutes Eriiiiiii,” Vriska sings loudly. Karkat glares at you pointedly. You have the worst guard in space.

You roll yourself off of the restcycle slab. You miss your recoupracoon sometimes; the comfort of the slime and the feel of being surrounded as you sleep. It’s a strange set up, but you don’t miss sleeping alone, though. It isn’t usual for trolls to be this close, to live and keep quardrants in their quarters. But you have spent most of your life alone and shoving people away. So, this is something you’re going to take advantage of.

You quickly go through your sylladex for new clothes. You wonder if at some point you’re going to get anything new to wear. You’re still wearing your Alternia uniform, your birth sign blazed across your chest in vivid red. Your peers will change it up a little when you land at the training center. They'll recieve uniforms more fitting for their occupation. You still haven’t been assigned an occupation.

Karkat is scowling at you and so you figure you’ve been lost in your own thoughts for too long.

“Sorry,” you tell him and quickly swap clothes. He shrugs but his face smoothes out. It’s only another minute before you’re both opening the door to come face to face with Vriska.

When she wasn’t actually saving your life, which you are grateful for, Vriska was irritating you. She trips you down the hall, shoots paper at you via her psychic powers, and undermines your intelligence in conversation. She also insists she follow you everywhere, including into the bathroom. She's a menace.

“Hey Eri, Karcrab,” she greets the two of you. She punches your shoulder just hard enough to bruise and grins when you wince. You throw Karkat a look of desperation, but he ignores it. What a wonderful matesprit he is. 

Karkat refuses to intervene for you. He informed you that he enjoys being your matesprit and does not want to get tugged into being your austipce. While you agree with him, you still feel a little abandoned everytime he leaves you to your fate.

 

“Morning Spiderbitch,” Karkat says. If Vriska is hurt by his nickname, she doesn’t show it, her attention is still trained on you.

“We’ve got a big day ahead of us,” she tells you, linking your arms. You dig your claws into hers. You know you’re just egging her on but god it pisses you off when she treats you like you're still kids back on Alternia.

“Do we?” You ask her. You never know what you’re going to be up to, but Vriska always seems to know. You warily allow her to lead you down the corridor to Nepeta’s throne room, Karkat close on your heels.

“Sure do,” she confirms, “its fun hanging out with you blood freak, you get to go to all the high society shin digs.”

“God, Nepeta isn’t gonna make him go to that fucking mess is she?” Karkat pipes up. You turn to look at him and see his face twisted in disgust.

“Of course he’s going, can’t keep the royal pet out of the spotlight can we?” Vriska is still smiling with glee and Karkat frowns harder. You feel your heart stop for a moment.

“Royal pet?”

“Oh don’t say that too loud, it only fuels the rumor mills,” Karkat snaps.

“Who says the rumor mills aren’t right?” Vriska reasons.

“Excuse me but royal pet?” You stop moving. Vriska yanks roughly on your arm but you don’t budge. You turn your head and meet Karkat’s eyes. He is immediately by your side, reaching for your free hand.

“That’s not what you are, it’s just a rumor,” he assures you. He scowls at Vriska, who's still smiling.

“Well, it fits, I don’t actually do anything during the night,” you say bitterly. Vriska sighs irritably and untangles herself from you.

“We don’t have time for this pity party,” she insists, “Her Highness Nepeta does not appreciate tardiness.” And since it’s only you, Vriska, and Karkat in the hall you tell her what you really think:

“Nepeta can bite me.” Karkat snorts in amusement.

“See, you’re definitely not her pet.” He reaffirms.

“She doesn't deny it though is she?” You try to look him in the eyes, but he looks away and squeezes your hand.

“Not exactly,” he admits. You huff, feeling a little offended. You know there isn’t much for you. You don’t have a real caste, but you aren’t useless. You’re an excellent marksman, and great at staying under the radar if your survival on Alternia is any proof. You could do something, even if it was just being in a first line infiltration unit.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Vriska gripes loudly, “are we going to sulk in the hallway and wait for Sollux to come and get us or are we going to show up under our own will?” You hate to agree with her but you dread the idea of another Sollux and Vriska showdown this early in the night.

If Vriska is bad, Sollux is worse. 

You know Sollux is smarter then you, but that never stops him from rubbing it in your face. He never stops insulting your fashion sense and making fun of your hair. He also has this idea that it is absolutely fucking hilarious to make your hands not do what you want them to. You would go to shake someone else’s hand and punch yourself in the face. A simple wave turned into a ten-minute arm throwing disaster. 

“We’re going,” you say.

“Keep your head on Serket,” Karkat adds. Vriska sniffs but leads you the rest of the way there.

You do end up being a little late to the daily gathering in Nepeta’s throne room anyways. She stares at you pointedly as you file in. Sollux smirks by her side.

As always Karkat presses a showy kiss to your cheek, marking you in front of everyone. You roll your eyes at him. You know he does it to prove that you’re under his protection, but you feel like everyone in this room gets the point by now.

“Sorry we’re late Your Highness,” Karkat greets Nepeta casually.

“Don’t do it again,” she replies coolly. Voupic shoots you a cold glare before picking up where she had left off when you arrived.

“As I was saying, most of the instructors will be in attendance as well as at least a handful of military admirals. The admirals report back to the Empress on your progress periodically. This is your first introduction to them, so we want it to go well.

“We advisors also attend and your body guard will also be invited. You, of course, are welcome to invite your quadrants or trusted peers. Please keep in mind it’s usually a highblood event. This is your official introduction to the fleet. Most ship captains will at least see your opening remarks through a broadcast. A good impression is whats most important to your future reign.” Voupic sits down unceremoniously, finished with her speech.

“Thank you Voupic,” Nepeta says, looking thoughtful. You notice Ecolst’s wonky fins have started fluttering, and she looks anxious.

“Your Highness,” she says. Nepeta snaps her attention to the low seadweller.

“Yes?”

“We were wondering, your advisory board that is,” she takes a deep breath. Karkat is eyeing her suspiciously and you get the feeling he doesn’t know what she’s talking about.

“We were curious as to whether you were going to invite the uh,” she pauses. Her eyes dart to you and you know what she’s going to ask. 

“We wanted to know if the mutant would be coming.”

Nepeta blinks. You feel a little hurt, your presence isn’t poisonous after all.

“Why do you guys ask?” Nepeta has cocked her head, look calculating.

“Well as a mostly highblood event, the lowest spectrum are usually just staff members and trusted moirails,” Ecolst explains. You're anxious to hear more. Yoisme and Niichi appear to feel the same but Voupic looks unbothered.

“We’re worried that the presence of the mutant would be riotous. He’s an unnatural phenomenon and many will seek to end him on sight,” she finishes shakily. Karkat looks furious, like he’s seconds away from shredding Ecolst’s poor excuse for fins from her ears. You know she's right. You're presence would cause chaos, not to mention it would be a security nightmare. Nepeta's face remains nuetral.

“Not that I should have to explain myself, but I was planning on inviting Eridan. If he does accept, I’m more than confidant in Vriska’s ability to keep him safe.

“It also appears that not everyone is aware of this concern. You are allowed to present to me individual worries. But I will remind you that there are five members on this board. Make sure everyone is up to speed before claiming to be speaking as a group. I will not tolerate divsion in my board.

“And finally, Eridan is none of your concern outside of his presence in this room. He is here because I want him here and he will be here as long as I say so.” Nepeta glares at the four adult trolls. You feel touched, you hadn’t expected her to stand up for you like that, so blatant and final. Ecolst looks thoroughly ashamed. Yoisme appears nervous but, Niichi and Voupic look rather neutral, as if it had nothing to do with them.

“Anywayssssssss,” Vriska says breaking the tense silence. Nepeta shoots her a look but lets the interruption slide.

“I believe it’s time for my rounds. Karkat and Niichi you can come with me. I would like the rest of you to inform the security at the compound of our mutant friend here. Any harm to him will result in the perpetrator’s culling immediately, no exceptions.” Nepeta stands up and makes her way to the door. Sollux is right behind her, not even stopping when he makes your fingers twitch. 

“Also, Eridan you’re with me as well.” She adds. You want to groan.

You wait for the others to file out after her before following. You’re glad you aren’t stuck in the room with Voupic’s cold glare, Ecolst’s nervous energy and Yoisme’s disdain. But you also wish you weren’t anywhere near Niichi’s calculating stare.

You follow Nepeta down the vast and empty hallways. You pass a class of fierce teals and you feel their eyes track you as you pass. You shudder involuntarily. You still don’t feel safe among other trolls, and that’s a hard to let go of. Sollux notces your discomfort, and elbows you.  
"Don't worry, small fry, I'll make sure the big bad blue bloods don't hurt you," he jokes. You growl, but don't answer him. Vriska laughs.  
Nepeta takes you guys down further into the center of the ship. You’re usually following her around the perimeter, so you feel a little weird to be so far away from the ship windows. 

You travel deeper into the ships center. You wonder if you're going to see the helsman of the ship. You really hope not, the helsman are not a pretty sight. As much as Vriska drives you up a wall, you think it would be cruel to show her that. Helmsman are always psionics.

Nepeta stops at a door before you reach the maintenance core, though. 

"This is your stop Eridan," she says, "we'll be back to get you once we finish a sweep of the ship." Karkat kisses your cheek again, and Vriska gags.

"Come onnnnnnnn, lets get this over with," she says. Nepeta doesn't wait for a reply from you before she leaves. Sollux gives you a parting shove and then they dissapear down the hall. You take a deep breath.

"Let go in then."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuses, not a single one.
> 
> I've gone back and edited pretty much the whole fic! Not much change in the first two chapters, but the othr three have some added depth and I've changed som character reactions and generally smoothed it out. You should definitly reread it because I think the fic's tone has changed a bit. 
> 
> I'm gonna try and put this fic in rotation with my other three. My erikar fic has stalled so maybe writing this will help? We'll see~
> 
> Please please comment! I want to know how you like the changes and the new chapter! Also hiveswap is a thing that's happened so congrats to us!


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